In the course of a day marking high points in two of India’s premier scientific institutions, the Indian Institute of Science and the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for an opening of the Indian mind to science and stressed that terrorists will not succeed in destroying “the journey of our people towards a better life”. He also announced the setting up of a National Science and Engineering Research Board on the lines of the National Science Foundation in the US to promote basic research through “unfettered financial assistance”.

Inaugurating the centenary celebrations of the IISc here on Wednesday, the Prime Minister first paid tribute to Prof M C Puri who was killed in the December 2005 terror attack on the campus. “That terrorist attack symbolised the nefarious designs of the enemies of our country and our people. They chose the IISc as their target because this great institution and this vibrant city have come to represent the spirit of a resurgent India,” he said.

The Prime Minister called for the spread of scientific temper in the country through the work of scientists. “We need an opening of the Indian mind. We cannot allow unreason to dominate reason, and intolerance to threaten the spirit of tolerance and dispassionate enquiry that is at the heart of Indian culture,” Singh stressed. Science is a means to shaping minds, he said.

He made a fervent appeal to make science more accessible to the people. “We have to spread the light of liberal learning and critical enquiry among all our people so that we can truly build a ‘knowledge-based’ society and economy,” he said.

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